Merten de Keyser

Merten de Keyser was a 16th-century French printer and publisher working mainly in Antwerp, who printed the first complete French and the first complete English Bible translations as well as a number of works by English Protestant authors.

In 1517, de Keyser took over printing press in Paris of his father-in-law Guillaume Le Rouge. In 1525 because of certain restrictions on religious works he moved to Antwerp, where he continued his business until his death in 1536. De Keyser issued many works by the French humanist Jacques Lefèvre d'Étaples of which the most famous is his complete French Bible (1530 and 1534), the first French Bible ever in print. His Dutch publications included New Testaments, Psalters, partial biblical translations and other religious works. His work for the English market included mainly the works of William Tyndale, and it was also Merten de Keyser who printed the first complete English Bible, the Coverdale Bible in 1535. De Keyser also printed Latin publications, such as Robert Estienne's Latin Bible in 1534, ad reprints of Erasmus's Latin translation of the New Testament.